I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method of uniquely identifying animals for data collection, records management and retrieval purposes. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of identifying animals which involves the use of a universal identification scheme capable of uniquely identifying individual animals anywhere in the world such that data may collected for the animals over their entire life cycle (defined as the period from birth to death and all post-death processing).
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
Animal identification and registry has been an area of increasing concern over recent years. Generally speaking, animal identification and registry involves collecting data for each animal throughout its entire life cycle such that the individual characteristics and history of the animal can be tracked. This data may include, but is not necessarily limited to, date and place of birth, ancestry, sex, geographic movement, health and treatment history, and other production records. The livestock and food processing industries, in particular, has been heavily involved in this area in an effort to increase productivity and profitability in livestock management, as well as develop a strategy for identifying, tracing and managing the risks in the area of food safety and infectious disease outbreaks in livestock.
A significant challenge exists, however, in that there is currently no uniform system for identifying the animals to be tracked. Instead, a multitude of animal identification and registry conventions have evolved over time which vary widely depending upon, for example, the geographic location of the livestock operation and/or the manufacturer of the particular animal tracking system. The lack of uniformity based on geographic location is evident, by way of example, in the United States, wherein each state determines its own animal identification scheme for livestock farms located within the state. This lack of uniformity is problematic in that it becomes increasingly difficult to trace back information concerning a specific animal. In this fashion, the usefulness of the collected data is compromised, which undercuts the goal of increasing productivity. It also increases the time required to trace back human exposure and potential issues of food safety while limiting the spread of infectious diseases which, in certain circumstances, can lead to additional exposure to preventable health risks for humans and the spread of confinable diseases for animals which in turn could lead to the disposal of large numbers of animals. As will be appreciated, this is not only disadvantageously costly, but also problematic in terms of the additional health risks presented to humans and animals alike. Managing the risk is clearly associated with data collection and information management systems that a well run animal operation should already have in place.
The present invention is directed at overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.